Growing Sunlight

Tommy raised a brow. Sir? Well, maybe he had misjudged this kid, he at least knew how to act respectfully. Tommy appreciated that. His answers however, made the vampire frown. “What kind of bad situations?” He pressed, his blue eyes watching the kid carefully. If he was being bullied that would not be good at all. Throughout his career as an apothecary and a doctor he had seen how bad that could get and it made his cold blood boil with anger. He tried to avoid assuming things, but he also knew people lied. Especially to doctors. The number of times he had seen a broken arm from a ‘fall’ was absurd. And frustratingly there was nothing he could do about it.

“Are we talking bruises? Cuts?” he asked casually, as if he were simply wonder what kind of thing the kid might need. Yes, people lied, but people also told you important things without meaning to when asking the right questions.

“Hmm,” Tommy hummed thoughtfully, absently tapping his chin as he thought. He shook his head. “That isn’t good,” he pointed out his brow creasing. “Well, I think I can help you with that, Eli.” He got up from his stool and stretched out his shoulders, which had grown stiff from stooping over his notes. He filled the small counter up to get out of his little nook. Pacing past the kid, he waved a hand, indicating he should remain where he was. Tommy was going to be back and he didn’t want to trip over a kid while he was trying to do something. Pondering over the vials, Tommy finally selected a salve from the bottom shelf and after a moment of consideration selected another vial from a higher shelf.

Retreating back behind the counter, he placed both on the surface. “This,” he said holding up the salve, “Does wonders for bruises, you take a little bit on your fingertips and gently massage it into the bruise.” Now, holding the small vial. “This is for cuts, you’ll want to clean it out, pour a little bit of this on and it helps prevent infection and help healing. It will sting, but it just means it’s working.” He explained but held up a finger. “Neither of these are meant to be used on large wounds. Those you should always go to the hospital for.” He blinked, realizing how quickly he had dropped into his doctor’s spiel.

“But, my first advice is going to be to avoid dangerous situations,” he said matter-of-factly.

Tommy frowned at the kid, his stern expression leaving nothing to be misunderstood about how serious he was taking this. “There’s no shame in running from dangerous situation. In fact, it’s f--,” Tommy bit his tongue to catch the swear word before it escaped, “It’s incredibly foolish not to.” With a sigh, he got the impression that Eli was not going to get it. Pondering the kid and the medicine for a little while, Tommy bit at his lip, his sharp canine peaking over the right side of his lip as he did so. “Tell you what. I’ll give you the salve for $10.” He slid the container toward the kid. “And, I’ll let you use this for free,” he held up the vial, “On the condition that it stays here.”

He placed his hands on his hips and dared the kid to argue. “I don’t want you using this on your own. I don’t want you trying to fix up something that needs stitches. You get a cut that needs more than Neosporin and a bandage, you come here or you go to the hospital.

“Here’s my card,” he said plucking one out of the small stand he kept next to the register. On it read: ‘Thomas Pulfer, M.D.; Manta Carlos Hospital’. Along with a contact number and email. On the other side was the contact information for the Apothecary. “If you have any issues, give me a call.” He hated the idea of a kid like this running into some nefarious creatures. He seemed like a nice enough kid, if a little spacy and lost.

“Deal?”

“Good,” Tommy said punching a button on the old cash register, forcing it to pop open. He slid the money into the appropriate slot and slammed the thing shut. “And yes, you should use it twice a day after you notice a bruise. Once in the morning and once at night. It’ll help ease the pain and help it heal. You’ll want to start in the middle and spiral out when your applying it. You’ll want to press hard enough to feel it, but not hard enough for it to hurt.” It was a strange contradiction, but if he just gingerly put it on, it wouldn’t work half as well. This stuff worked like magic, but it did take work.

“Take care of yourself,” Tommy said, seating himself back on his stool. He tore a small piece of paper and wrote ‘Eli’ on it, before taping it to the vial and placing it on the shelf behind him. Pulling his ledger closer, he flipped it open and started rereading where he had left off before he had gotten distracted. “Have a good day,” he said just in case his dismissal wasn’t clear enough.